Raglan Castle






















On our way home from hiking at Brecon Beacons we drove right by this cool-looking castle so we decided to stop. We were glad we did! The kids loved exploring all the dark passageways and climbing up and down the dozen stairways.

This castle, like many in the UK, was partially destroyed by parliamentarians after the Civil War, but plenty is still standing. The big fireplace from the main castle kitchen made it easy to imagine cooks bustling around to prepare lavish feasts (one of the castle's lords was known for being an especially decadent host and entertainer.) I loved the remains of the old library. Justin loved the dark passages. (There must be fewer lawsuits in England judging by how open and, um, un-fenced-off some of the stairs, passages, and high points are in these castles.)

There were stairs leading down a narrow passageway that led into the moat that I found puzzling (it's the picture with Justin standing looking down a stairway toward a window.) My mom's theory was that it was for getting in and out of boats, and it did look like that, but doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of a moat? If any of you are castle experts and can shed light on that for me, let me know! The kids also liked the toilet facilities (which emptied into said moat...)

It was fun to see the kids' excitement as they ran through the halls and courtyards and discovered new nooks and crannies. We had the place mostly to ourselves, and it sort of got all of us addicted to castle-ing. So there will be more castles coming soon...

Comments

  1. din 'illahi10 April 2018 at 12:10

    What fun! Yes, I have had the same thought about lawsuits when I’ve visited old ruins and stuff in Ireland and the Balkans. I appreciate the lack of safety features even though it makes it more stressful especially if with kids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel10 April 2018 at 12:51

      I totally prefer it! I would much rather give kids the thrill of exploration even if it means gripping small hands slightly tighter on some of the precipices!

      Delete
    2. James Scarlett-Lyon10 April 2018 at 16:22

      I thought traveling in the Balkans was refreshingly dependent on our own ability to not walk off a cliff. None of the fences or railings that are everywhere inn the States. I too would love to explore that castle. I love the process of imagining life as it was and filling out ruined buildings in my head.

      Delete
    3. Rachel11 April 2018 at 12:41

      Yes!! I love love love agining what life would have been like when the bldgs were whole and busy...I also generally like being dependent on my own ability and being forced to trust the ability of my kids. And you can quote me on that when I have an early heart attack from watching Justin and Becca hang off various ledges 😊

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Day in Our Life

Image
I'm joining in the Homeschool Day in Our Life link up at Simple Homeschool today. Since we just moved to England from New England, got sick, got sick some more, and then had the Epic Family Flu Experience, we haven't had very many days that have come anywhere close to normal recently. In fact, this day I'm documenting is the first relatively normal day we've had in months, as luck would have it (with an emphasis on the "relatively"--we still have more boxes to unpack!) So, while this day has gone smoothly and has been blessedly filled with routine, had I written this post just a week ago, it would have involved me curled up feverish on the couch with the kids recovering and using their iPads pretty much all day, and Eric cooking bacon and eggs for dinner (again). Just for full disclosure. But now we're finally healthy, so here is our day: 7-7:45 am: We all wake up at about the same time. In my ideal world, I'd wake up before everyone to write ...
Read more

Laundry

Image
I know this is a topic you've all been waiting for with bated breath: dirty laundry!! When we moved here, our house had a washing machine but no dryer. This is very common for houses here--even in our very affluent village we frequently see wash hanging out to dry (and, to be fair, sometimes getting rained on.) I think moving here as a home-manager and mother has made me notice more the habits and norms. When we lived in Syria Eric and I didn't have kids and I didn't spend much time thinking about running our home (to be honest, mostly because we had cockroaches and there were worms in our shower--I just sort of survived our home that year....) Anyway, coming here as a homemaker has made me think about things like laundry. And that means you lucky readers get a whole post on it! Our washing machine that came with our cottage was on its last legs, and so we replaced it with a washer-dryer combination. But since we don't have a vent we had to get a condenser...
Read more

Our Neighbors the Romans

Image
One of my very favorite things about living in England is the old stuff. I liked that about New England when we moved there from California, too, because in comparison there are older and better preserved houses in New England (with the exception of some cool adobe ruins in a park I used to play in when I was growing up...) But England really beats both California and Massachusetts hands down in the cool-historical-places-and-buildings game!  Pretty much anywhere you drive, you see old things (and old people, too, come to think of it, but that's a post for a different day...) Our little village has lots of history, people having lived here in settlements for two thousand years. And since people have lived here for so long, there are layers of history almost everywhere. Rumor has it, for example, that somewhere around Naunton are the ruins of the last standing round house, that was modeled on the old tribal construction techniques that existed before th...
Read more